Dressing up and themed sweet treats are my two biggest reasons for enjoying Halloween.
So what better way to spend my Halloween Eve than making sweet things for a Halloween Bake Sale at work raising money for a charity that benefits children orphaned by HIV and TB in South Africa?
Obviously I stuck to the autumnal Halloween theme. I popped my Pumpkin Pie cherry this weekend. Who knew you could buy tins of pumpkin puree online!? (Well, Tam did, because he bought 3.)
The pie went down a treat in the office, and looked so professional someone asked me which bakery I went to. Yes, I am gloating. But can you blame me?
Pumpkin Spice is now my absolute favourite thing. Ever. I may have gotten a bit heavy handed when I made my Pumpkin Spice Crispy Cakes, but good grief they taste good!
Melt 85 gram of butter and 2 bags of mini marshmallows until gooey and scrumptious – technical term.
Add a whole tube of orange food gel colouring and pray that it goes orange enough. The baking gods will provide and you will be rewarded with a gorgeous coral hue.
Throw in 5 cups of rice crispies and get mixing. Your mixing arm will get the best workout of its life, let me tell you.
Grab a handful of the mixture and roll into balls.
Break off an inch of of an orange flavoured Matchmaker and hope the marshmallow hasn’t cooled too much so you can give your pumpkins a suitable stalk.
Scrape the pot clean and soak in water for 2 days to remove all remnants of marshmallow.
Take a great Insta pic of your pumpkins to make everyone else jealous.
And you’re done!
The bake sale was fabulous and we’re still collecting money for the charity. It operates in Sweetwater and provides support for the grannies – or gogos, as they call them – who foster their grandchildren and sometimes great-grandchildren whose parents died of HIV or TB.
To continue my Halloween festivities, I spent Monday night Trick or Treating round the wards at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children with the Sick Kids Friends Foundation. A group of us handed out Halloween-themed crackers with gory present and terrible jokes, jigsaws, masks, charm bracelets and more.
It was an emotionally exhausting evening but it also filled me with so much joy being able to coax small smiles from the children.
All in all, it was a very busy and glitter-filled Halloween. I can’t wait for next year!
